Tag Archives: World Food Programme

A few days ago I had never heard of Zlatan Ibrahimović. Now, I’ll never forget his name and the 805 million people who go hungry every day.

On February 15, the United Nation’s World Food Programme launched a moving hunger awareness campaign with international football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic called 805 Million Names. The campaign features Ibrahimovic with 50 names temporarily tattooed on his body symbolizing the hundreds of millions of people who go without adequate food each day. He revealed the tattooed names during the February 14th game between his team Paris Saint-Germain and Caen after making a goal.

“If I could, I would write all the names of people suffering from hunger on my body. But they are 805 million. It is a disaster. Me and the World Food Programme want to make sure the world knows this,” Zlatan Ibrahimović said in a statement.

Even though Ibrahimović was immediately slapped with a yellow card during the game after taking off his shirt to reveal the 50 names, the message had already been sent. In just a few short days the video has been seen over 2.5 million times and counting.

Watch the Video

To learn more about the campaign and the World Food Programme’s role in feeding people around the world visit wfp.org/805millionnames.

Effective video making is a powerful form of storytelling. Videos, when done well, get to the heart of the matter quickly and leave people wanting to know more, do more, and donate more. These videos encompass all of those things and also made us want to delve more into not only their messages, but also spread the word. Here are our top 10 NGO video recommendations of the year.

World Food Programme

World Food Programme workers the world over constantly face what could be insurmountable circumstances to feed people who lack proper nutrition and enough food to sustain themselves. With a rock-n-roll backdrop in this video the WFP shows how they have overcome logistical barriers to feed the South Sudanese during the rainy season.

The Blessing Basket Project

Do you remember the first time you saw the ocean? For many of us who have visited the coast since we were kids that memory is long gone. Not so for Sarah, a Ugandan country director for The Blessing Basket Project, who recently saw the ocean for the very first time. This video in its simplicity shows how far good content can go.

Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Have you read The Last Hunger Season by Roger Thurow? If you haven’t gift it to yourself during the holidays. It’s a remarkable read. What’s even better is Thurow followed up his book this year with an eight part film series. So many of us who have read The Last Hunger Season wanted to know more about everyone Thurow mentioned in the book. How were they doing? Did they see improvements in their lives and harvests? Did they endure another hunger season? You can find out those answers in the film series. Watch all eight and follow Thurow’s blog, Outrage and Inspire.

Norad

We all know every child has the right to an education. But did you know children with disabilities, children in marginalized groups, girls, and child soldiers are often kept out of school? These children also have a right to an education. 57 million children are still without an education. This video shows how BRAC, through the assistance of Norad, helped a physically disabled little girl, Ria, go to primary school in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Clean Team Ghana

Something as simple as using the bathroom can be very dangerous for women and girls, especially where there are public toilets. The Clean Team Ghanakeeps public toilets clean for the communities at an affordable rate where everyone can use the restroom with dignity.

Doctors Without Borders

Even in the midst of armed conflicts Doctors Without Borders along with other international NGOs believe that children still must be vaccinated. This video shows how difficult it can be to vaccinate children in some of the most remote areas of the Congo and how Doctors Without Borders team accomplished their task despite the inherent obstacles.

UNICEF

Pakistan has 170 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births each year per the World Health Organization making it one of the countries in Asia with the highest maternal mortality rates. Sub-Saharan Africa sees the greatest maternal death rates. Without midwives, more women will die without skilled ante and postnatal care. Through first-person storytelling, this UNICEFvideo shows the importance of midwives in Pakistan to the safe delivery of newborns and the survival of their mothers.

20/20/20

This touching video of two sisters who were born blind shows how a simple medical procedure can correct blindness and restore sight within 15 minutes. 20/20/20 gives sight to some of the world’s poorest children and adults who otherwise would never be able to afford this operation.

Human Rights Watch

Can you imagine getting up every morning to clean human waste from dry toilets (those without running water or that are not attached to a septic system) day after day without pay? And, while the work is humiliating enough, adverse health conditions arise from carrying baskets of excreta on one’s head from losing patches of hair, having constant nausea and headaches to getting skin diseases and having breathing difficulties. Watch this chilling Human Rights Watch video about women in the undesirable caste who are forced to clean human waste in India.

Girl Effect

FGM (female genital mutilation) is one of the most inhumane practices on young girls in the world. It causes undue physical and psychological damage to girls for the course of their entire lives. More than 125 million girls and women living today have undergone FGM in mainly 30 countries. However, with an increase in immigration, girls who now live in western countries are also getting “cut” in order to sustain the rigid cultural practice. This Girl Effect video shares the candid and moving voices of women who underwent FGM and are now speaking out against it.

Correction (9/18): Clean Team is a sanitation business not an NGO. Clean Team provides in-house toilets to the urban poor in Kumasi, Ghana at an affordable fee. They do not keep public toilets clean.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World report, a collaborative report from Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Program and International Fund for Agricultural Development, was released Tuesday. According to its topline data, there are now 805 million people around the world who are chronically malnourished; that is a steady decline of 100 million people over the last decade. Undernourishment has fallen from 23.4 percent to 13.5 percent in developing countries.

The good news is Millennium Development Goal 1.C (halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger) is within reach according to the report as 63 countries have already reached MDG 1.C. Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded the greatest progress said the report. In sub-Sahraran Africa, 1 in 4 people is chronically hungry. The most chronically malnourished live in developing countries.

Brazil is touted in the report as achieving not only MDG 1.C, but also the more difficult to achieve WFS (World Food Summit) target that calls for reducing by half the absolute number of hungry people in a country. Juxtapose that with Haiti where over half of its citizens is chronically hungry.

The stark disparity between developed and developing countries is shown in the numbers. Between 2012 – 2014, there were 14.6 million undernourished people. Compare that to 790.7 undernourished people in developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa there are 214.1 million undernourished and 504.6 million in Asia and the Pacific. However, Asia and the Pacific reduced hunger by nearly 10 percent more than sub-Saharan Africa over the same time.

During the July 2014 African Union meeting in Malabo, African leaders pledged to fully end hunger on the continent by 2015. That will take significant increases in agricultural outputs, funding, and political will.

Africans, however, are speaking up and expressing that the agriculture techniques that have been successful in the west aren’t necessarily adaptable to Africa. Ruth Oniang’o, the founder of Rural Outreach Africa, for example, believes that creating better food yields in Africa means understanding the African context. Oniang’o also believes that Africans can best teach other Africans about best farming practices and techniques because the farmers know they aren’t going anywhere.

“The farmers know us and they know of us. We make them our friends, and they know we are not going anywhere,” she says. “It’s not just a question of money. It’s working with you to make better use of what you have at the ground level, and just being able to appreciate and maintain dignity.”

While significant progress has been made to reduce global hunger, there are still hundreds of millions of the poor who don’t eat enough each day. One in nine people in mainly low- and middle-income countries are chronically undernourished.

Last month, a United Nations team travelled to Western Equitoria, Central Equatoria, and Western Bahr El Ghazal in South Sudan to assess road conditions, an important task when famine looms in a region that is mostly agrarian. Without passable roads it is impossible for lifesaving, critical health supplies, health workers, aid agencies, and most importantly food to reach remote areas that are cut off from main city centers especially during the rainy season and when the need is most critical for vulnerable populations.

Aid agencies including UNICEF, the Jesuit Refugee Service, and the World Food Program have warned the world that a famine is quickly nearing in South Sudan amid continued failed peace talks and violence. Famine is an extremely strong word to use when it comes to food insecurity and no one wants to utter it until the very last moment when people, especially children, are already on the brink of dying.

Logistics Clusterposted a telling map of South Sudandated from May 2, 2014. In Western Equitoria, Central Equatoria, and Western Bahr El Ghazal there is little infrastructure save for some primary roads, which are questionably passable, and a few primary cities. The lack of reliable infrastructure continues to make humanitarian relief difficult to fulfill.

According to UNICEF, nearly one million children in South Sudan will require treatment for acute malnutrition this year and according to Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, 50,000 may die from malnutrition in the coming months.

“The world should not wait for a famine to be announced while children here are dying each and every day,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake in a statement, speaking after a visit to the devastated city of Malakal, where tens of thousands of people still take shelter on a UN base. “Today we spoke to mothers who have struggled through conflict, displacement and hunger to stop their children from dying. We all have to do more, and quickly, to keep more children alive.”

On 11 August,NyabolHion holds her 2-year-old daughter,Nyanmot Lam, at AlSabbahPaediatric Hospital in Juba, the capital. “I travelled here by boat with my husband’s brother,” says Ms.Hion. “My three other children stayed with my husband inWalyar in Unity State.” Her home was destroyed during the conflict, and she lived for a while in the bush after fleeing the fighting. Nyanmot’s illness began in April 2014, but she has been in hospital for only three days, receiving therapeutic milk every two hours for her malnutrition, as well as antibiotics to treat her diarrhoea and vomiting. “Nyanmot is not the only sick child I’ve seen,” say Ms.Hion. “Many children are sick, and many are passing away.” After Nyanmot’s treatment, they will return toWalyar. “My wish is for a good life and peace,” says Ms.Hion, who advises mothers that “if your child is sick, take the child to the hospital.”

A team of UN Security officials travelled through parts of Central Equatoria, Western Equatoria, and Western Bahr El Ghazal, to assess the state of the road and other conditions, including local conditions that might impact travel.A woman mixes cassava flour in the back of an old UN vehicle in Langwa Payam, on the road between Maridi and Mundri, Western Equatoria. 26 July 2014 Western Equatoria, South Sudan

A group of truck drivers take turns clearing earth to drain water from an impassable section of road that has stopped close to 100 trucks on the road linking Western Equatoria and Western Bahr El GhazalA team of UN Security officials travelled through parts of Central Equatoria, Western Equatoria, and Western Bahr El Ghazal, to assess the state of the road and other conditions, including local conditions that might impact travel. Children stay in the cab while the Security Team jump-starts a truck with a dead battery in Western Equatoria. 23 July 2014 Western Equatoria, South SudanA team of UN Security officials travelled through parts of Central Equatoria, Western Equatoria, and Western Bahr El Ghazal, to assess the state of the road and other conditions, including local conditions that might impact travel. The Security Team tows out a stuck vehicle in Western Equatoria, near the town of Lui.A team of UN Security officials travelled through parts of Central Equatoria, Western Equatoria, and Western Bahr El Ghazal, to assess the state of the road and other conditions, including local conditions that might impact travel. Drivers of an overturned truck set up a tarpaulin for shelter from the rain near Yambio, Western Equatoria. 23 July 2014 Yambio, South Sudan

Yesterday Oxfam released its new Global Food Index that shows the best and worst places to eat. Across all indicators Chad came in dead last in the index. The indicators to rank the countries include having enough food to eat, food affordability, diabetes and overweight citizens, and food quality. In fact, along with Chad, eighteen of the last twenty countries in the index are sub-Saharan African countries save for Yemen and Lao’s People Democratic Republic. Conversely, the top country in the index is the Netherlands followed by fellow European countries France and Switzerland. The top ranking sub-Saharan country is South Africa, to be expected, followed closely by Botswana.

Parsing the data by indicator the best country for food quality is Iceland and the worst is Madagascar. The best country for food affordability is the Netherlands and Guinea is the worst. South Africa is the best sub-Saharan country based on the food affordability indicator. I am happy to see this data as this is the experience I have had while spending time in South Africa. Food is quite affordable there.

“Having sufficient healthy and affordable food is not something that much of the world enjoys,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. “Across the globe, particularly in developing countries, far too many people are consuming more and more unhealthy food. Paradoxically, more than 800 million people cannot get enough nutritious food to eat. Governments and the food industry are failing to ensure that everyone is able to eat healthfully, despite there being more than enough food to go around.”

According to FAO’s The State of Food Insecurity in the World (2103 edition) 1 in 8 people around the world experience chronic hunger. Undernourishment decreased by 17% since 1990-1992. However, 12% of the world’s population was not able to meet all of its daily dietary needs and most of those people live in Southern Asia (295 million) followed by sub-Saharan Africa (223 million).

Based on data from the UN, Millennium Development Goal 1 that states hunger should be halved by 2015 is in reach. FAO believes MDG 1 can be met, but many countries will not reach the target reduction in hunger. Countries that have experienced conflict within the last twenty days and landlocked countries with unfavorable trade laws have the least chance of improving hunger rates.

How much would it cost to feed all hungry children the world over? The World Food Program estimates that $3.2 billion would be needed annually to feed all hungry children. Of course, that doesn’t take into account all of the adults, particularly women who are expecting, who do not have enough food to eat.

Reports are flashing across the wires that Central African Republic is embroiled in massive inter-religious violence that is mere stages away from full-on genocide. A coup in March saw Muslim rebels overthrow then president François Bozizé. Now, Central African Republic is being led by an interim president, Michel Djotodia. Djtodia is the country’s first Muslim president. Muslims make up about 15% of the population in the Central African Republic.

Amid heavy infighting and violence, France is backing an African Union led international mission in the Central Africa Republic in order to quell the killing and prevent any steps toward increased religious violence which could lead to genocide. Yesterday, French President Francois Hollande made a stop in Bangui after visiting South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Two French paratroopers were killed in combat on Monday after fighting broke out at Bangui’s airport. Hollande made a stop to pay his respects to the fallen soldiers and to speak to the French troops who are working to restore order in the Central African Republic after over 300 people, according to the Red Cross, were killed in massacres in Bangui. Some of those killings include lynchings and stoning.

Hollande has called for the former French colony to have swift elections by 2015. Hollande has also ordered increased troops to the Central African Republic to bring the total to 1600. Hollande assured the French that the number will remain stable at 1600 especially as the African Union is bringing on 6000 of its troops.

United States Presence

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has ordered air support for the international efforts in the Central Africa Republic after receiving a request from French Minister of Defense Yves Le Drian. US AFRICOM will transport African troops from Birundi to Central African Republic.

“The United States is joining the international community in this effort because of our belief that immediate action is required to avert a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe in the Central African Republic, and because of our interest in peace and security in the region. We continue to work to identify additional resources that might be available to help address further requests for assistance to support the international community’s efforts in the CAR.”

Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the United Nations, called interim president Djotodia and insisted that he use his influence to stop the violence and told him that the United States is watching the situation closely in the CAR and would hold all parties responsible for any atrocities against its citizens.

Genocide

GenocideWatch.org released a statement that the CAR is in Stage 8, the stage right before full scale genocide. And Somini Sumgupta wrote in the New York Times that UN officials are working to stave off genocide especially after getting it wrong in both Bosnia and Rwanda.

Humanitarian Efforts

With more than 60,000 misplaced people in the CAR, the World Food Programme is on the ground providing much-needed food essentials for the CAR citizens. In a statement this week the World Food Programme says it has fed 19,000 people in the first three days in Bangui and are setting up mobile operations to reach those where WFP offices have not been established. The WFP fears the need will increase as violence increases.

Doctors Without Borders is calling on both Muslim rebels and Christian militias to allow the wounded to get medical care in hospitals.

UNICEF is working with rebels and the militias to free child soldiers from fighting and is supplying medical supplies for children who have been injured in the conflict. Aid workers on the ground in Bangui are reporting children at local hospitals are coming in with bullet and machete wounds.

“It’s the first time that something like this happened to me, to us”, said Kelley, 17, who is being treated at the hospital for a gun shot to the chest, sustained while he was walking to school last Thursday. “I’m worried for my family, my friends, and my country.”

International Response

The past lessons of Rwanda and Bosnia are strongly driving international efforts to get the inter-religious bloodletting under control in the Central African Republic. Elections won’t be slated until 2015 at the earliest which will cause instability throughout the country until then and most likely immediately afterward.

We have seen in the past that fighting factions vying for ultimate control of an entire country and its resources don’t relinquish power easily. As the Christians and Muslims continue to fight amid a weak power structure it will be up to the international community to make sure humanitarian aid is sufficient and the violence stops. Increased violence may warrant increased troop levels. Only time will tell. Right now, France is saying relative order has been forged in Bangui due to international troop presence.

When you think of the logistics of humanitarian aid there is no better United Nations agency in the world that documents, shares, and reports on the remarkable work they do than the World Food Programme (WFP). With a separate department devoted entirely to logistics, the WFP shares multiple ways in which they deliver food aid to those who desperately need it.

The WFP recently released its first annual logistics report that provides minute details about the air, sea, and surface transport used to deliver food as well as the cost-cutting measures they are taking to ensure monies that can be used for food aid is not frivolously spent on transport. For logistics geeks, the annual report is an eye-opening look into the way humanitarian food – most of which goes to Africa – is moved through the world. It is not easy nor is it inexpensive. In fact, the average cost to transport food is $100 per metric ton for sea delivery, $180 per metric ton per land delivery, and a whopping $3500 per metric ton for air drops. The World Food Programme’s logistics budget for 2012 was $986 million reaching 70 countries according to the report.

With such a massive workload of global humanitarian food distribution the World Food Programme is also tightening the way in which it monitors the food it provides to hungry populations. With a new system called LESS, the World Food Programme will be able to monitor all of its commodities online in one single system.

“LESS has empowered WFP country offices in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and their remote sub-offices and warehouses, with real-time supply chain management and commodity reporting capabilities. As two post-conflict countries, they are not the simplest places to deploy high-tech solutions, reaching far beyond the capitals. LESS accurately accounts for every kilogram of food; it records supply chain transactions all the way to the
beneficiaries’ own neighbourhoods. Extending this powerful capability throughout WFP will dramatically boost our efficiency and accountability,” said Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director, WFP.

The report also lays out the country donors that collectively provided $177 million to WFP Special Operations in 2012. The European Union donated the most with the United States coming in third place in donor monies. Additionally the private sector has donated to the humanitarian efforts including Caterpillar, PepsiCo, UPS, and Renault Trucks.

As a part of the global race to end hunger Michael Kors has partnered with the World Food Programme to help solve the crisis of 870 million people not having enough food to eat each day. Kors designed the 100 Series watch for the newly-launched Watch Hunger Stop campaign. Each sale of the 100 Series watch (retail $295) feeds 100 people through the World Food Programme.

“I am so proud to be joining the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in one of the greatest global fights of our time–ending hunger,” said Kors. “To make a significant impact, you need a great product as well as a great cause. I wanted to design something special and unique that I knew would have huge appeal to our customers, including our watch collectors. These are fabulous watches, designed and sold for an incredibly important cause. That’s the way it should work.”

Kors has also teamed up with Oscar winner Halle Berry to spread the message globally about the 100 Series watch and the good it does for those who go to bed hunger every night.

Last Friday France began strategic airstrikes in northern Mali against rebel groups that have crippled the government since the early part of last year. France has said its intervention will be swift. The United States has already given its support to France saying it will provide intelligence and overhead surveillance according to NBC News. Britain has also pledged its support with logistical assistance.

The United Nations’ Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, was briefed about the situation on the ground in Mali last Saturday by the President of Côte d’Ivoire and Chair of ECOWAS, Mr. Alassane Ouattara. And on January 10, Mohammad Masood Khan Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN and President of the Security Council for the month of January, spoke to journalists following closed-door Council consultations on the situation in Mali (above).

“These latest events underscore the urgency of implementing all aspects of the resolution, including support to ECOWAS mediation efforts, the development of a consensual roadmap for the transition and provision of support to AFISMA and the Malian defence forces, said the Secretary-General.

Due to the fighting a humanitarian crisis will undoubtedly grow. The World Food Programme has already said it is prepared to provide food assistance to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons who flee the fighting. And the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has said over 300,000 people are spilling over the borders in Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The UNHCR has launched an appeal to the public to help as many people as possible.

It sounds seemingly impossible, but there is yet another area of Africa that is under threat of a food shortage due to erratic rains during the growing season. While the Sahel is still experiencing food shortages, southern Africa is now joining ranks with the northwestern part of the continent.

According to the World Food Programme, 3.5 million people are living in drought-hit areas in Malawi, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe and are in need of food assistance. The hunger season lasts from December through March.

“Large numbers of smallholder farmers and their families are in the grip of what is set to be one of the harshest hunger seasons of recent years,” says Brenda Barton, WFP Deputy Regional Director for Southern Africa. “With the help of governments, donors and regional organizations, we’re mobilizing resources to help the most vulnerable, not only with food distributions but also with innovative solutions like cash transfers via mobile phones so people can buy their own food.”

Malawi

Lesotho

Zimbabwe

1.8 million people are receiving food assistance

200,000 people are receiving food assistance

1.6 million people are receiving food and cash assistance

What can you do to help? You can donate securely on the World Food Programme web site. There is currently a $4 million emergency operation shortfall in Lesotho and a $14 million shortfall in Malawai, so every donation counts.

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